Joined Daniel, Daniel's dad Bob, and Brian #2 for some albacore action. We drove down to SD on Monday. I went over to the First String and got a tour of the boat from Brandon, and then went back to the Holiday to put reels on rods and rig up. We noticed at the office that the Holiday found 25 yellowfin that day. With an 80 mile run ahead of us, I went to sleep after the orientation in the galley. Woke up to snotty conditions. I ate a breakfast burrito up top and we started trolling at around 6:30, 7. Brian Kettler came up on deck for a brief time before launching a geyser and going back to sleep... I was on the first trolling rotation but no hookup until the second rotation. No love on the slide. Second or third jigstop we found a good school. Still nothing on the slide, but I managed 3 on bait from this stop. Just about everybody got a couple off of it. By the time we lost that school it was about 9 or so. I went down below to check on the sasquatch and told him he could've caught a fish and gone back to sleep in 5 minutes and if he's up for it to come out on the next stop. We had another few jigstops and then Brian decided to fish. It slowed down a little bit but we were stopped again within an hour. I told Brian to stay next to me. I hooked one and handed him the rod and he got a decent albie to the boat. I got two more. Then somebody hooked a yellowfin. Then another person, soon everybody in the bow was on yellowfin. We started seeing "ballers" (boilers... :-)) around the boat. Daniel's dad was on a fish for about 1/2 an hour before his Daiwa Sealine exploded and they had to splice onto a backup rig only the break the line. We esimated it at about a 60# bluefin. I got a yellowfin, Brian got a yellowfin and another albie. The yellowfin were about 20 to 30#. Mine was maybe 25. Probably 23, 24. Brian's was a little bigger, closer to 30. We were with this school for a good 3 hours with boilers all around the boat, sometimes frothing. They wouldn't eat the iron though. We always had at least one fish hanging and managed to keep the school with us. Those YFT sure are tough for their size. They'd hit the bait, then come back for it and smoke about 30 yards of line and then just stop and you couldn't move em. I had my Sabre with one of Daniel's GS's (long story, but we had to swap some reels around...) with 20# P Line and at one point I said, alright, this fish is coming up and I managed to turn it's head and short stroke it to gaff. So, at 1 o'clock we had to head back.

I tried throwing the fastrac a little bit in the bow, but I soon decided not to with 3 treble hooks... I think I'll put some singles on one and then give it a shot. Final count was Daniel- 2 albies, Brian- 2 albies and a YFT, Bob- 3 albies and a YFT, me- 5 albies and a YFT. Good trip, good crew. Oh yeah, Rick (captain) said he'd comp me a trip the next time I want to come down, so I'm stoked on that. A couple dorado were caught, 3 bluefin, and no yellowtail. Pictures will be coming soon.
-Brian

LAST EDITED ON Aug-15-01 AT 04:48 PM (PST)

Sounds like a good day. Was wondering what your reccomendation is for an albie bait pole as I have a couple trips coming up soon. Currently looking at the Calstar 700l and 700m any suggestions. Used a 7 foot all glass Seeker rod last year - a mistake - got the fish in but the pole had no backbone so it was a challenge.

I highly reccommend the 700ML. Brian can attest to that as he used it all day and he now wants to buy a setup exactly like it (700ML w/ Progear 545). The rod is perfect for 25#. For 20# I was using this old Sabre that I actually wrapped the night before we left, and it was sweeeeet. 30# is kind of a tough one. There's no real 30# graphiter, besides the 700ML, but I think it's a wee bit light for 30. People fish 30 on it, but my personal preference is a bit stiffer (I'm beginning to see the benefits of hammered drags... hehe). As an all around bait stick, go for the 700ML. If you fish 25 you'll still get em if it's a fairly scratchy bite, and you'll be able to get em to the boat quicker than 20#. If they're eating 30# you'll still be in there, so it's quite versatile. The only thing I don't like about my 25# setup is that the progear doesn't quite have the line capacity of 25# I'd like. I'm thinking about backing it up with some spectra.
-Brian

So when are you going to write the tuna fishing article for us newbies }>

har har. I don't know if I'm THAT seasoned... I'm catchin on though, I think... Give me a year or two and get back to me ;-)
-Brian